Pushing Forward.....

So I finally got a couple of my interviews out of the way…..

I’ve been avoiding these interviews for a number of reasons. Mostly fear. Part frustration. Because I change goal, I had no direction and just ready to give up on everything this class was trying to push us to do. After talking to Prof. Rock and getting to the guts to put myself out there, I believe I was relatively successful. I interviewed to interesting and remarkable professionals and here’s what they had to say:

First I interviewed Shelly A. Butler, the Executive Director of the South Chicago YMCA, and it was a relatively short phone interview. She is originally from Georgia and attended undergraduate and graduate school down there and focusing her studies on education and business management. She didn’t have specific reasons for apply to employment at the YMCA but feel fulfills in her work. We discussed the programs and the struggles of her work. She stated something very interesting to me: she says it wasn’t so much about your educational background when it comes to nonprofit work but about your character. You must understand the people’s socioeconomic status and emphatic to their individual situation. She stated that many of her previous interns were unable to grasp that concept. She invited me to come down, take a tour and talk more with her.

Second interview was with Tio Hardiman, who works with The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention. He’s an amazing man with an amazing story. We discussed things he went through in his childhood and they affected him overall. Discussed his educational background. I was most interested in his M.A. in Inner City Studies from Northeastern University. His work in several organizations around the city and what he found rewarding from each of them. I was so into his life story I didn’t take great notes. Our conversation was brief but dense. He invited me to contact him anytime to discuss anything I had a question about.

I also have a interview for next week with Cherita Ellens, Executive Director of the South Side and Wabash YMCAs